News

Baker & Taylor is making it possible for librarians around the world to witness Publisher Presentations. Previously, these presentations have only been available to a select number of librarians at Baker & Taylor's Bridgewater, New Jersey office and distribution complex in the New York City metropolitan area, near the headquarters of major book publishers.

On Tuesday, June 5, 2001 from 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm Baker & Taylor will air seven Publisher Presentations via webcast of the children and young adult titles that will be published this fall. Librarians can log onto
acw.activate.net/bt/library/index.htm
to view the webcast during the initial broadcast or they will be able to access the archived webcast from June 6 through July 6 at the same address.

Representatives from the following publishers will be participating in the webcast: HarperCollins Publishers, Scholastic, Penguin Putnam, Random House, Harcourt, DK (Dorling Kindersley), and Simon & Schuster.

"Never before have librarians in the United States, or around the world for that matter, had access to so much information on forthcoming titles, directly from publishers," said Michael Utasi, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Public Libraries. "Librarians can now access these presentations at their convenience, 24 hours a day. They can listen to the presentations of the new children and young adult titles that will be released this fall 2001 and decide which titles they need to add to their collection to meet patron demand," Utasi added.

Baker & Taylor's Webcast Service is designed to assist librarians in their decision making process, as well as to make ordering easier. Customers will be able to order each title highlighted by the publishers via Baker & Taylor's website at www.btol.com. An e-list will be available in the Shop Online section of btol.com and a spreadsheet (and PDF) will be available for download on Baker & Taylor's homepage for any library that is not currently a Baker & Taylor customer. Subscribers to The Title Source TM II can receive, at their
request, an order-ready cart with all the titles that are highlighted in
the presentations. The Webcast Service is available, at no charge, to any library.

"This service is another example of our focus on enhancing customer service, making it easier for customers to do business with us, and our dynamic position as a provider of children and young adult book products," said Utasi. "It also illustrates Baker & Taylor's commitment to utilizing the latest technology to bring libraries the information they need to facilitate their decision making process."

Although books are published twelve months a year, there are two seasons that are the primary publishing seasons, spring and fall. The vast majority of titles are released within these two major seasons. Prior to these major publishing seasons, a tremendous amount of background work takes place not only by publishers, but also by Baker & Taylor. Ongoing meetings between the publishers' representatives and Baker & Taylor's buying staff are a daily occurrence. In the past, these meetings lead up to a Presentation Day when the publishers' representatives revealed the information about their new books and summarized answers to all of the questions that result in a final buying decision. Librarians in the area were invited to attend the presentations to assist them in their collection development efforts. Baker & Taylor is pleased to extend this invitation to librarians around the world.